Re-lay timescale
How long does it take to re-lay a stone roof?
The short answer
It depends on the roof's size, how much of the stone can go back and what turns up underneath, so no fair figure exists before the survey. A re-lay runs slope by slope in a set order: strip, sort, repair the timbers, then lay the stone back. The written programme for your roof comes with the quote, and weather or consent can shift it.
What decides the length of a stone roof re-lay, the order the work follows, and the waiting that often comes before any slab is lifted.
What sets the length of a re-lay
Four factors drive the timetable. The first is area: a long farmhouse roof with several hips and valleys has far more slope to strip and lay than a small cottage. The second is the condition of the stone. Slabs that are mostly sound go back briskly, while a roof where many have flaked demands more sorting and more replacements. The third is whatever lies beneath. Rotten battens or a damaged rafter foot must be mended before any stone returns. The fourth is access.
A narrow lane, a steep plot or a roof with nowhere safe to rest sorted stone all lengthen the job. Weather matters too, because a stone roof is opened only as far as it can be closed again before dark. Anyone naming a number of days without having seen the roof is guessing. Photographs and a loft check at survey are what allow us to write a programme for your own roof into the quote. Ask to see that programme, and ask what happens to it if the stone proves weaker than hoped.
The order of work on the roof
A re-lay starts at the top. Slabs are lifted course after course and stacked by size, so the biggest are ready for the eaves and the smallest for the ridge end. Cracked and flaking pieces are set aside and sound ones kept for reuse. As each slope opens, the battens and underlay beneath are examined and whatever has failed is renewed.
Laying then runs the other way. Courses are built up from the eaves, largest slabs first, each one pegged or nailed and checked for its lap as it goes. Ridge, hips, valleys and lead flashings come last, because they rely on the stone already being in place. Our guide to diminishing courses shows how sizes step down the slope. Because the work moves slope by slope, the open area stays as small as the job allows.
Waiting that comes before the first day
On a stone roof, day one on site is often not day one of the project. If the building is listed, or the council's rules apply, the application and its decision come first. Scaffold can need a licence as well. Where it stands over a pavement or road, section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires permission from the highway authority, which takes notice. West Sussex County Council sets a minimum of 10 working days from application to erection, and Hampshire County Council applies a notice period of its own. Put that wait on the calendar early.
Replacement stone needs ordering too, if the survey shows some slabs cannot go back, and matching reclaimed pieces can take a while to find. Build those waits into your plans separately from the re-lay itself. Our guide on re-roofing a stone roof in a conservation area explains the permission side, and the Horsham stone roofing page covers the whole process.
Weather and keeping the house dry
Stone roofs are not laid in a downpour. When heavy rain or high wind is forecast, work pauses and the exposed slope is covered. This is one reason a re-lay is planned slope by slope: one slope is closed and made weathertight before the next is stripped, so no more roof is open than a day's work can finish.
The sea air on this coast and the downs inland can both stretch a programme, and a firm promising a fixed finish for winter work is promising more than the weather allows. You get a realistic programme in writing, and word from us if it moves. If a leak is already active, the roof is made safe first, since leaks and storm damage get priority, and then the re-lay is planned properly with the whole roof in view.
The finish and the clear-up
A re-lay ends with checks, not just the last slab. The ridge and hips are inspected, the lead is dressed neatly and the gutters are cleared of the grit the work has shaken loose. We look at the loft side for daylight and for any sign of the underlay lifting. Everything is swept up, and the waste goes with us.
Spare stone is accounted for, because sound slabs left over have a use in later repairs and can stay with the house. If the work needed building control, we deal with the notification. The quote sets out what the job includes, and the programme in it tells you which days are likely to be noisy, when the scaffold comes down and when the gutters are finished, so neighbours can be warned in good time. Our answer on what a survey of a stone roof looks for shows how the programme grows out of the first visit.
Related questions
Re-lay timing queries
Does a stone roof re-lay need building control?
The Planning Portal's tests are less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope together with less than 50 per cent of the roof. Below both, building control is not normally involved. Above either, or with a heavier covering, approval is needed. Arun's building control team lists replacement coverings among approval work, so put your job to them before you rely on the thresholds.
What if the battens are worse than the survey suggested?
It happens, because timber behind stone is not always visible until the slabs come off. We photograph what we find, explain it, and agree any change with you in writing before more work is done. The loft check at survey is meant to keep surprises small.